Dutch Pirate Party: Central banks are wrong to reject Bitcoin, we will continue to use Bitcoin

The Netherlands’ electoral commission has reportedly rejected a bitcoin payment from the Dutch Pirate Party to participate in the upcoming election, but the move won’t stop the Pirates from using the digital currency in their bid for power.

The Pirate Party is an international movement that has emerged in more than 40 countries. Party members call each other "pirates". There is one "pirate" in each of the ten seats in the European Parliament and the Icelandic Parliament. "Pirates" have also been elected in Germany, Australia, Sweden, and the Czech Republic. A large part of the "Pirate Party" views Bitcoin with a very positive and optimistic attitude.

Dutch Electoral Commission Rejects Pirate Party’s Bitcoin Payment

Many Pirate Party supporters donate in Bitcoin (the Pirate Party also accepts another cryptocurrency, a local Dutch cryptocurrency called the Guilder). The Dutch Pirate Party recently tried to pay the Dutch Electoral Commission with Bitcoin, but the Commission rejected the Bitcoin payment, so the Pirate Party had to go to an exchange to convert Bitcoin into euros and then pay the fee in euros.

Ancilla van de told Bitcoin.com: “The Pirate Party wanted to pay a deposit of 11,250 euros to the Dutch Electoral Commission in Bitcoin, but the electronic currency is not yet accepted by the government.” The Pirate Party therefore exchanged the electronic currency for euros.

She said: "For many years, the Pirate Party's cryptocurrency assets have increased. When we need a large sum of money to participate in the election, it makes sense to pay with electronic money. We are happy to take this opportunity to express our attitude."

The Pirate Party of the Netherlands has regularly debated the disposal of its Bitcoin holdings. “We wanted to use our Bitcoin effectively,” Ms. Van de Leest explained, “so we did this. Because it is not accepted by our government, we exchanged it for euros and used euros to pay for the elections. It is important to us that the Bitcoin donated to us was used to win a seat for us, and we used it to pay for the elections.”

There is something in common between the Pirate Party and Bitcoin. "Not only our electronic roots, but also the way our community members see the world and organize themselves," said the leading candidate for the Dutch Pirate Party parliament. "At the same time, we see fundamental flaws in the existing economic system without Bitcoin. The old economic structure is deliberately built to be non-transparent and requires a monetary policy called "quantitative easing" to fill its holes. Economic value is created out of thin air and distributed to a select few by the powerful. This money is earned by others who have to work hard." Naturally, Pirates and Bitcoiners share a deep distrust of the banking system.

“Supported only by a false sense of security”

“Central banks don’t manage the money they distribute in a way that benefits society as a whole,” said Ms. Van de Leest, who once appeared on the cover of Dutch Playboy magazine. “Some might say the way they run it is a crime. Besides that, most of the money distributed in the world is actually someone else’s liability, backed by a false sense of security. When people lose confidence in their own money, they also lose confidence in the institutions that distribute it, namely the central banks. This has devastating consequences for everyone.” Pirates support the decentralization of banking using Bitcoin.

“It brings to life everything we seek: decentralization, accountability, transparency, organic growth and permissionless innovation at their best,” said Ms. Van de Leest. “The codebase is transparent, and trust in the community is growing. Nkamoto’s anonymity is also consistent with our philosophy of protecting challengers of the system, such as whistleblowers.”

The financial blockade of WikiLeaks donations and other similar incidents are new experiences for the Pirates. "Money is a political thing," Ms. Van de Leest explained. "We think that Bitcoin paves the way for everything that might be added to it starting today in the future. Our internal database only relates to the amount and type of cryptocurrencies we accept." Accepting Bitcoin was an easy choice for the Pirate Party.

“Both Bitcoin and the Pirate Party are about taking control of the middlemen and decentralizing power,” she said. “We’ve paid for a lot of other things with Bitcoin in the past, and we’ll continue to do so.” The Pirate Party even uses Bitcoin to get expenses reimbursed. “One time we needed to reimburse one of our volunteers,”

Ms Van de Leest recalled. “He had paid for our posters and flyers upfront and wanted us to reimburse him in Bitcoin rather than Euros, which we happily agreed to.”

Empowering people

"We want to empower people to make decisions as locally as possible," Ms Van de Leest said. "Wherever there is a centre of power, transparency and accountability is how it is scrutinised. The greater the power, the greater the need for transparency. We are committed to decentralising power from companies and governments." The Pirate Party is admired by many for its attitude and stance towards the digital world.

“We are the only party that can understand what the digital world and inventions like mechanization and self-driving cars will do to society and our human rights,” she said. “The Pirate Party came from the internet, so our foundation is built around the digital world. Sadly, human and political rights are now our priority.”